OCLC Minority Fellowship Essay

I want to participate in the Online Computer Library Center's Minority Librarian Fellowship Program because the scope and range of the O.C.L.C. phenomenon can not be ignored. As you know, the O.C.L.C. liasons with over 70,000 libraries and contains almost 142 million bibliographic records in well over 100 countries. I call it the O.C.L.C. "phenomenon" because these figures alone make the Center seem supernatural, a veritable colony at the forefront of bibliographic technology. In addition, I want to participate in this Minority Fellowship program because the roles and functions of libraries are in flux, and I would like to form part of the organization that is helping define what libraries are becoming.

I also want to participate in this program because the O.C.L.C. and I both believe that the aim of information institutes should be to provide unrestricted access to the world's information; while I would not consider myself an open-access maven, I do agree that information should not be obstructed by petty commercial restrictions, classist interpretations, or jingoistic tendencies. I understand this is virtually impossible and rather naive, but it is also what is just when it comes to allowing people to make sense of their world in the way they see fit. I believe my background in education would benefit the Question Point reference management service most, and I am especially interested in learning real-time assistance and the nature of the formation of knowledge bases

If you would like to know how the Online Computer Library Center has contributed to my short-term goals, all you have to do is proceed to WorldCat (www.worldcat.org) and conduct an author search, typing my name in the query box. This will bring you to the record for the first thesis I wrote for grad school, hyphen-American (2002), a collection of poetry I completed at the University of Massachusetts--Amherst to receive my MFA in Creative Writing. It is still my intent to publish my thesis from grad school, even though the title and direction of that piece have changed dramatically. However, WorldCat has become an inconsequential agent in this production, a partner in my pursuit of publishing a full-length collection of poetry. The scope and range of the O.C.L.C. phenomenon is such that my relatives in Argentina can check the world's catalog for signs of their literary relations.

If you would like to know how the Online Computer Library Center has contributed to my long-term goals